ELL News Headlines

Migrant children in the U.S. are working some of the most dangerous jobs in the country and private auditors assigned to root out unlawful labor practices often overlook child labor. The most common job for migrant children is also one of the most hazardous, roofing and construction, despite laws prohibiting anyone under 18 from doing so.

Management over the state grants for improving instruction of English learners returned to the U.S. Department of Education’s office of English language acquisition, known as OELA, this week. The office of elementary and secondary education, or OESE, has overseen Title III grants for the last 15 years. The federal aid is intended for supplemental services in language and academic instruction of English learners.

What have we been conditioned to think an effective classroom looks like? For many, it’s a vision that includes tables of students sitting quietly, working diligently as the teacher walks around or pulls small groups. But when I reflect back on my own childhood and on what I’ve learned in my career as a paraprofessional, it’s clear that the most effective classrooms aren’t necessarily the ones that are most quiet or still, but the ones that prioritize relationships and community building.

A 17-year-old high school student been identified as the shooter in an incident that occurred at 7:37 a.m. Thursday at Perry High School. One student, a sixth grader at the middle school, was killed. Police said the student may have been at the high school to take part in its breakfast program. Four other students and one school administrator were injured at the scene.

Iowa's Teacher of the Year for 2024 comes from Hoover High School in Des Moines. Ann Mincks is a 16-year teacher of English language learners at one of the state's most diverse high schools, where around 25% of students are English learners. During the award ceremony Monday, Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts congratulated Mincks and unrolled a "Teacher of the Year" banner to hang in the halls at Hoover.

The CUNY Initiative on Immigration and Education (CUNY-IIE) premiered its new video series, featuring school-wide projects produced by three elementary schools in New York state. “Not Too Young: Immigration in Elementary Schools” illustrates the ways in which schools can be responsive to their immigrant communities and prioritize immigrant students and families at their schools.

Raquel Martinez thinks a lot about time. The time of the day she schedules parent conferences. The time of year she holds open houses at Isaac Stevens Middle School, where she’s the principal. For her, time is essential to how she shows respect for the community her school serves. Many of her students’ parents are farmworkers — some of them migrant workers — who toil 12- to 14-hour days in apple orchards, and on cherry and potato farms in and around Pasco, Wash.

Subject-specific vocabulary goes hand-in-hand with a deep and meaningful knowledge of content. It allows us to engage with that subject, unlocks understanding, and promotes clear and precise communication. 

Middle and high schoolers juggle a lot between school, friends and family life. But an estimated one in five have even bigger responsibilities — they are also caregivers for their families, at a time when most U.S. schools do not formally identify or support caregiving students.

Author Meg Medina will be the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature for 2023-24, the Library of Congress (LOC) and Every Child a Reader recently announced. The 2019 Newbery Medal winner for Merci Suárez Changes Gears is Cuban-American and will become the first author of Latina heritage to serve in the role. Her platform will be "Cuéntame!: Let’s talk books," an idea inspired by the Spanish phrase that friends and families use when catching up with one another.

Update: For more on Meg Medina's tenure as the National Ambassador, see the following:

• Meg Medina Offers Office Hours as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature
• Meg Medina: Let Kids Read Freely
• A Conversation with Meg Medina